Clarius Group LLC Reduces Stake in Costco Wholesale Corporation $COST

Clarius Group LLC lowered its holdings in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,583 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 78 shares during the quarter. Costco Wholesale makes up about 0.5% of Clarius Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Costco Wholesale were worth $8,497,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of COST. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Costco Wholesale by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,825 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $18,165,000 after buying an additional 2,172 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,029,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 961.7% in the 1st quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 23,146 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $21,891,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966 shares during the period. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 52.8% in the 1st quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 1,744 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,649,000 after purchasing an additional 603 shares during the period. Finally, Sovereign Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,727 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,634,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Teresa A. Jones sold 600 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $992.05, for a total value of $595,230.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,343,222.10. The trade was a 20.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Russell D. Miller sold 3,381 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $915.00, for a total value of $3,093,615.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 9,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,912,100. The trade was a 25.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,981 shares of company stock valued at $7,588,685 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Stock Performance

Shares of COST opened at $915.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.55. Costco Wholesale Corporation has a one year low of $867.34 and a one year high of $1,078.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $405.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.27, a PEG ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a fifty day moving average of $953.54 and a 200 day moving average of $971.61.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 25th. The retailer reported $5.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.81 by $0.06. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 30.09% and a net margin of 2.94%.The company had revenue of $86.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.15 earnings per share. Costco Wholesale’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Corporation will post 18.03 EPS for the current year.

Costco Wholesale Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 1st were issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Costco Wholesale’s payout ratio is presently 28.56%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on COST. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,160.00 to $1,050.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,060.00 to $1,025.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,000.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Friday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Costco Wholesale from $1,333.00 to $1,418.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $907.00 target price on Costco Wholesale and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,067.19.

About Costco Wholesale

Costco Wholesale Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the operation of membership warehouses in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Japan, the United Kingdom, Korea, Australia, Taiwan, China, Spain, France, Iceland, New Zealand, and Sweden. The company offers branded and private-label products in a range of merchandise categories.